Last month, a handful of Invest Barrie team members had the opportunity to support and attend the 2024 reIGNITE Conference. In it’s 3rd year, reIGNITE brings together a community of over 160 innovators, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, as well as founders and funders from across the region and beyond. Over the course of three days, attendees took in keynote speakers, experiential learning opportunities and several chances to build long-lasting connections with members of the start-up ecosystem.
Pictured above during the Invest Barrie MedTech Camp. Top row: Chris Adams; reIGNITE Founder and Stephannie Schlichter; Director of Invest Barrie. Bottom row: Alban Jerome, Serina Ahmad, Ross Bigelow and Azadeh Mostaghel.
Among the top learnings:
1) Let entrepreneurs be entrepreneurs. Spoken by Sunil Sharma, Managing Partner of Techstars Toronto, shared the undeniable impacts of mentors and resources to entrepreneurs and the success rates of those who seek the support.
2) Technology isn’t a problem, it’s the change management process within an organization. A key sentiment shared across the Regional Ecosystem Collaborative Ontario (recON) (hosted by the District of Muskoka), panelists who have experienced the journey of navigating technology implementation into legacy systems.
3) Go out to the ecosystem. Talk to people. Don’t be afraid to abandon work. Technology and medical sector innovators on the Invest Barrie MedTech Camp panel shared their experiences of how they moved their businesses forward even when they were being dragged back. Clogged medical systems, archaic data systems and dramatic changes in scopes of work will be rampant through the implementation process.
4) Start with your end game in mind. Gilberto Gandra of Stealth Mode brought forward stories and experience of seeing how haunting and ugly exits transpire for both funders and founders. The key lesson in every tale of caution for entrepreneurs before starting their entrepreneurial adventure is to build towards their end game, rather than waiting for the end game to happen on its own.
5) Despite innovation, the fundamentals of business remain the same. Whether it is a new business venture or experiencing substantial growth, every entrepreneur, founder and funder must understand the value proposition of the business. As demonstrated by the panelists of the AI Camp, reliance on AI is growing but every business will always need people who can think.
Invest Barrie is proud to support the reIGNITE Conference and the impactful learning opportunities the event offers. Every year, this conference highlights Barrie’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and showcases some of the local businesses that are changing the technology and innovative landscape daily.